Thank you for leaving Jack Beatty out of this.

The man is a Bush hater and his presence would only detract form the seriousness of the program.

The Bush Administration was guided by two unspoken yet pervasive and unyielding philosophies:

1. The ends always justify the means.

2. Policy decisions that benefit large corporate interests (including the fossil fuel energy industry) always take precedence over decisions that would benefit the “little guy” (i.e., average middle-class Americans.)

As for George W. Bush himself, I wonder if history will regard him as “The Alcoholic President”. Even if we assume he has not consumed a single drop of alcohol since he became born again and quit drinking, Bush has exhibited classic “dry drunk” behaviour throughout his presidency. (A “dry drunk” is an alcoholic who has stopped drinking but has not chosen to embark on the recovery process – Twelve Step or otherwise – of making amends, assessing one’s personal failings, and gaining a better understanding of oneself.) This certainly would explain Bush’s exaggerated sense of self-importance (”I’m the Decider”), difficulty admitting fault, unwillingness to listen to opposing points of view, and inability to confront overwhelming evidence that would impel most persons to change their viewpoint and alter course.

In conclusion, I would have to agree strongly with others who have summarized the last 8 years of the GWB presidency as a Great American Tragedy. Whether you like him or not, George Bush had too many personal flaws to be an effective leader.

I’m sorry you’re leaving Jack Beatty out of this. His brilliant commentary represents quite a few of us. E.J. Dionne Jr. will do a great job no doubt. And, Wilkerson can be counted on for the straight dope too.

Let’s see:

Failed to rally country post 9/11 (go shopping)
Killed friendships in EU after weak support of our invasions (freedom fries)
No Bin Laden
Quagmire in Afghanistan, in bed with Pakistan
Iraq invasion
Torture
Outsourced military (blackwater, Halliburton)
Domestic spying
Continued deregulation of financial markets
No cooperation with Congress (Karl, Condi, etc.)
Not enough evidence to support climate change (until this year)
Provoking Iran
Allowed the current financial meltdown to happen (and continue to happen)
Bailouts for banks, not homeowners

Underneath all of this is a person with a known learning disability which in itself isn’t a problem but the patterns of behavior that live on top of it are.

Intimidation by other (smarter, quicker) people (Cheney, Addington…)
Difficulty adjusting to new information
Defending hard fought point of view, even when there is overwhelming evidence that it’s wrong
Difficulty multitasking
Lying
Self-centeredness
Insecurity masked by toughness

I think when historians look back at Bush and his family history they’ll see patterns that relate to a family history of dyslexia and literacy. After all, his mom Barbara started a literacy foundation that funded research and education in this area for years. Why?

Anything I would say would be a repeat of the above so let me leave it with this.

All I can say now while looking to the future and trying to straighten out what he and the Neocon screwed up so badly:

THANK GOD HE IS GONE!

Squandered opportunities. That’s his legacy. Crisis presents opportunities for a visionary. Bush enjoyed 90% approval rating after 9/11 plus support of much of the world. Basically, he could have done anything. Anything. He chose Iraq and Guantanamo.

How can this man sleep at night? Think of the millions of real personal tragedies that can be laid at Bush’s doorstep – loss of lives in Iraq, families rent apart by military service, violations of civil rights, torture victims, and the ever-worsening financial crisis impacting ALL of us. Visit my blog site projectgeorge.blogspot.com to leave a parting message to our current President/Administration.

I do not disagree about Bush’s presidency being a fiasco. But I think history will judge the American citizenry very harshly as well. The majority were passive in the face of this administration’s apparent abuses.

As the singer John Doe artfully put it:

“We all get what we deserve – unfortunately”

The pity of it is, many of my republican friends to this day refuse to concede any major flaws in Bush’s administration. Until American’s re-embrace intellectual honesty and critical self-evaluation, we aren’t going to see any major breakthroughs in our politics.

NO, NO, NO, NO.
OnPoint show is failing us. The Media has failed us.
Forget about the wishy washy comments about Bush, that cannot be quantified between polarized people.

Let’s Concentrate on “WHY DID WE INVADE IRAQ”?
What was the Original/Real Motive?

Why in the world Bush and Cheney gave 18 months of song and dance about “dis”investigation of 9/11.

“Any” president would volunteer to answer any question under oath, by himself, no objections, no conditions.

Let’s not forget:

-politicization of the federal agencies
-doing everything possible to facilitate corporate exploitation of natural resources, the environment be damned.
-subordination of science to a political agenda
-denying global warming and wasting eight years when the US should have been acting
-doing nothing about our dependence on foreign oil
-putting into practice the conservative belief that “government doesn’t work” (e.g., Katrina and New Orleans)
-contempt for free speech rights, except for corporations
-packing the judiciary with extreme ideologues
-lying to the American people about weapons in Iraq

And I agree, it is a shame on the American people that there was not more resistance to his policies and that they re-elected him.

It frightens me that a president could so abuse the constitution with no checks. What would stop future such abuses by a president? Is our constitution really hostage the presidency?

Hello:

To the point of Mr. Obama having a challenge in his first year… Does anyone remember the downed spy pilot incident http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1260109.stm.

That was a challenge very early in the Bush administration.

There was no intelligent action then…

Then we had 9-11… and really what do these items have to do with Iraq?

Please as this administration leaves let us hope for some greater intelligence in the White House… even with the strife that may befall us.

IRAQ: It had to be “done”. But, Why?

IRAQ: Premptive War vs. Preventive War. Who Cares!
The Cheerleaders (6-7 individuals with dual citizenships) were jumping up and down between 1992-1996 for somebody getting rid of Saddam.

PNAC was formed in 1997, in the offices of American Enterprise Institute (check the addresses), as a cover in order to wrap an American Flag to terrorizing the Middle East.

This was before 9/11 and Oil was not even mentioned as the Motive. What was the Original Motive?

I feel burnt out for our country at the end of this long presidency, and I am all for accountability of SOME KIND. That is the lesson I learnt and love, about this country. More troubling however, is how, HOW did the American people allow this? It took EIGHT years, and disaster everywhere for people to realize this?? I find that shocking, and wish that THIS issue is addressed more than any other. For years MANy of us had the instincts and knowledge that this was wrong. But how did he get elected BY the people again?? This is a FUNDAMENTAL issue, within the people, and the electoral system that NEEDS work.
Thank you for the honest program. It is ironical and scary, that this would only happen in the last week of his presidency. It is sad.

what is the role or possibility of a mass presidental pardon for activities of the executive branc?

On the comment of dumbing down of the presidency, that the american public chose this president.
An old (perhaps cynical) saw goes:
One gets the results one deserves.

http://blog.camera.org/

His Excellency, The President will never be gone, because what made his election and reelection possible still remains.

The fact that the most impeachable president in history was not impeached indicates how enduring his legacy may be.

The ‘Bush Presidency,’ is a product of the devolution of the political, social, educational, cultural environment of America.

One of the main reasons the Bush administration went off the rails is the fact that every decision was couched in political terms and made with political goals in mind. This was also true in the Republican congress.

I wish Karl Rove and his enormous influence had been considered in your discussion. He poisoned the atmosphere, so that any bipartisanship was impossible. Former staffers have confirmed this.

Congressional treatment of the minority Democrats was deplorable.

Re your show on Pres. Bush’s legacy.
“W” thought he was guided by some deity. I’m surprised nobody brought this up (and the consequences).
Thanks for a great show.
Al Brosseau
Montreal, QC, Canada

When religion and government are mixed you get what George Bush brought the United States.
-Funding faith bases organizations thru the government is a mistake, even when they do social good.
-Environmental destruction that will take a decade to correct.
-A war supported by the fear that George Bush used to get re-elected in elections coreographed by Carl Rove’s discrediting his opponents.
-A cabinet led by Dick Cheney with their own agenda blindly supported by a President that had no future view.
-A United States reputation ruined by torture and economic failure.
-The religous right got what it wanted with many undesirable side effects – abortion is still legal and gay discrimination is still legal.
-Hope springs from the fact that George Bush had NO coat tails and Americans finally elected someone capable of intelectually guiding the future of the United States.
-History will prove that George W. Bush will hold his head high as the worst President.
Thanks for bringing a group together that can discuss GWB’s legacy.

The shadow of Nixon should not be over looked in the Bush years, so much of what was done and how it was done was an attempt to undo the Congretional over sights ect, put in after Watergate. Chaney et all, were key to this. There was not only an attempt to remake the world, but also exceutive priverleg.
ps sorry about spelling

No one can debate any of the above. History will judge George Bush, for better of for worse.

One thing that bothers me most in all this is the lack of accountability by those who would lead us to believe they are our leaders. I am talking about the congress. I have not heard a single one confess to being a part of any of the mess we have today.

Does anyone REALLY think Walter Reid hosital started falling apart when GW took office? Where are the senators/representatives from Virginia in all this? Why did they not know what was going on with Walter Reid? And if they did know why did they not attempt to do something to fix it? Maybe it was too easy to blame it on the prez.

Lets count the hands that went up after Katrina, taking the blame for the insufficient sea walls in Mississippi and Louisiana. After they spent the money to increase tourism, INSTEAD of improving sea walls. Which, by the way may have protected N’Orleans from a terrible hurricane. Where’s the accountability from the representatives of those states? Katrina must have started her evil journey to the gulf coast during GW’s inauguration.

We have a financial mess to rival all financial messes. Everyone who feels responsible raise your hands. It appears on one, except the American people are responsible. Because we like our comforts and don’t mind paying for them. And why not when the criminals in Washington are telling everything is fine. Why were Paulson, Dodd, Frank, Obama, etc. and the principals of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the other HUGE financial institutions not arrested, or at least detained and accounts frozen while they accounted for THEIR part in the greatest robbery from the American people in history? GW tried to get congress to tighten controls on those groups in 2001 and they did nothing. Maybe because their bank accounts looked good and safe.

It’s because there is NO leadership…and they don’t have the fortitude to admit it. And we don’t have the fortitude to do anything about it.

GW is guilty of allot of things. Seems like he’s taken responsibility because of his position. Where are the rest? We should ask ourselves where our responsibility lies. How about if we vote for non criminals in the future. God bless America!!!

Bush is was the worse president since Caligula.
They whole lot of them should be brought up on crimes against humanity, and the Constitution.

Frank Rich wrote a very good column in this past Sunday’s New York Times about the giant ponzi scheme that the Bush government called the reconstruction of Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/opinion/11rich.html?_r=1&em

Despite these very ??uplifting comments??, I am still proud to have voted for George W. Bush two times. Call me dyslexic on top of illiterate because of my choice of votes. BUT, your saying so simply does not make it true. PJS

First & last time listener.

You guys are radio’s regurgitation of “The View”, only worse. At least The View has Elisabeth Hasselbeck to counter Joy Behar’s ignorance and stubborn pride.

Thank God for George W Bush and a safe America so we can sit and listen to your oral vomit.

The Cheney/Bush Administration has had two major, major accomplishments, to which this OnPoint hour stands as oral testimony:

1) Out-of-sight, out-of-mind w o r k s ! and

2) Our US Justice system has been successfully subverted into a completely partisan operation — a government of men, not of laws.

On the first point, Out-of-sight, out-of-mind: The greatest accountability, the one that should first be mentioned in any list, is this: The unlawful deaths of [pick your number, from one (Pat Tillman, say), to 5,000 (US Troops), to 6,000 (“coalition forces) to 8,000 (“coalition forces plus mercenaries”), to 120,000 (all the above plus Iraqi children, women and men non-combatants), to 1.5 million (all the above, plus combatants, plus infants and the elderly who perished during the 13-year US/UK blockade of Iraq from 1991 to 2003)] human beings. And the wounding of, what, another million, the “transfer” of another 4-5 million Iraqis from their homes to out of the country or elsewhere within it, as war refugees.

By blacking out Dover Air Force Base, where the men and women come home in flag-draped coffins, since 1991, I think it was, the C/B admin. has kept the dead out of sight. It also helped that neither C or B attended any funerals of service men and women. By blacking out Andrews AFB, where the maimed and wounded return home (under cover of darkness), same thing. It just astounds me that the 4th estate has not sued or in some other way pried off the blackout lid on The People’s Property.

On the second point, the nearly complete subversion of our government into “a nation of men, not of laws,” here’s some evidence: That anyone would suggest that people who urge criminal investigations being launched against the members of this administration would be launching “a partisan witch-hunt.”

This subversion was started by the Republocrats in the first year of the Clinton administration, by using the Constitution for their partisan witch-hunt–a textbook case of abuse of constitutional process, in my opinion. But it was completed under the C/B admin. The last time I looked, there was no statute of limitations on murder (see the “pick your number” bit above).

Yes, we know there can be frame-ups, as happened in Boston with the FBI framing of some rather unsavory mobsters. And sloppy police/prosecutorial/judicial work in the case of the many death-row DNA cases. But generally people don’t think of criminal homicide investigations witch-hunts. (Or white-washes, as in the case of the 2,752 World Trade Center homicides “investigation.”)

bw

PS: Please add my vote “For” Jack Beatty to have been on the hour. He seems remarkably able — for an old man, of course — to completely cover the playing field of a given topic as if he were tucked into 20-league boots.

As to whether Jack’s a “Bush-Hater,” I say not at all. He is, rather, a member of my political party, the “Constitutional Conservative Party.”

For those listeners who think Jack is a Bush hater, I make this challenge: Read the US Constitution with reasonable care. Then memorize the Preamble so you can recite it any time you wish. (I find this mnemonic helpful: FEIPPS, pronounced “fee-IPS”, helpful, for “form … establish … insure … provide … promote … secure.”)

You might note that the Preamble is just one sentence, 52 words long, but that it could serve as a mission statement for any government, or even business. And built-in, there’s a very nice ordering of priorities. By the way, “protecting” our country–provide for the common defense–is priority #4, not #1 as the administration has always, and wrongly, claimed. I attribute their error to ignorance; that is, I don’t believe that Cheney or Bush have read the Constitution, like, say, the night before they took the oath to “preserve, protect and defend” it, in Bush’s case, or to “support and defend” it, in Cheney’s case–and in the case of the 535 members of Congress (who have also foresworn their oaths of office and their Constitutional responsibilities).

If, after you have carefully read the Constitution and memorized the Preamble, you still think Jack B. is a “Bush-Hater,” get back to me, OK? Also, please tell me in what branch of the military you served, and in what theater of war, or at what base, you served. Me, I served in the US Draft, a.k.a. the Army, but with different enlistment standards, and in Vietnam. Fortunately, only briefly. Not that I think combat service ineluctably confers wisdom on a person, but I have found that, especially in discussing government programs where the deaths of many human beings is the guaranteed result, men (and now women) who have been trained to shoot other human beings–who have been trained in the “spirit of the bayonet” (“What’s the spirit of the bayonet, men?!” “Kill!!!!”)–and have then been shipped into a place where they must put that training into use on a daily basis, generally have a more nuanced interpretation of “provide for the common defense” than the Chicken Hawks to whom we foolishly have ceded our power.

I mean, really, raise your hand if you think Cheney, Bush, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Feith, Rice, Perle, Libby, Addington, Card, Isikoff, Gerson, Rove, Hughes, Matalin, Wilkinson, Calio, Hadley, Yoo, McClellan, Tenet, et al., would have pushed for war if it were conducted as a duel between them and their counterparts in the Iraqi government.

OK. I’m looking. Looking. Looking. Nope, I don’t see any of you raising your hand. I’m not raising mine, either. In fact, if all wars were to be conducted as duels between the leaders of the respective adversaries, there would be no more wars. I think someone made a TV advert. about that once. “I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours.”

One of the most galling things about the reactionary authoritarians who have misappropriated the word “conservative” in our time is their glaring hypocrisy, made all the more irksome because they miss no opportunity to wag their fingers at others for the very sins they refuse to acknowledge in themselves. As Lawrence Wilkerson and one listener said on the program today, the lack of accountability in this administration is just astounding. This is an administration steeped in lawlessness and secrecy, in consummate cynicism and mistrust of its many critics, even as it sanctimoniously proclaimed itself to be the protector of American ideals. Nancy Pelosi shamefully abdicated her and her party’s responsibility to act as a loyal opposition to the Bush juggernaut when she reassured Republicans that “impeachment is off the table” back in 2006. It was left for people like Bruce Fein, the conservative legal scholar who was a member of the Reagan administration and who drafted the article of impeachment against President Clinton, to argue cogently that if Clinton could be impeached for lying about a sexual peccadillo, Bush deserved impeachment many times over for his many more transgressions.

Bush, like Nixon before him, who resigned without any apology and any recognition of wrongdoing, saying simply that he had lost his “political base,” and like Reagan, when he opined in the passive voice that “mistakes were made” in the Iran-Contra scandal, escapes office without any significant acknowledgement of his many, many errors. As E.J. Dionne noted, it is more than a little troubling to hear Bush puzzled at his news conference about why he has been so roundly criticized. Bush, like all the rest of the conservatives who are so ready to point the fingers of blame and shame at others, who love to lecture poor people about “taking personal responsibility,” avoid like the plague applying the same standard to themselves. And when one of them does make an obvious statement, using the famous phrase “I take full responsibility for the decisions I made,” what difference does that make? Has any of this nasty crew, from Bush to Cheney, Rice, Tenant, Bremer, Addington, and a host of others been made to pay any price for their lawlessness? The answer is no. Patrick Fitzgerald, the district attorney who is prosecuting Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, has plenty of material to go after Bush and company, as author and lawyer Vincent Bugliosi argues forcefully in his latest book, for no less than murder.

The problem is the spineless Democrats and the media, who have given Bush a relatively free ride. The situation over the last eight years is like the fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” where an obvious fact is denied. It is obvious that this administration has broken the law many times over. No one among the Democrats had the nerve to stand up like the child in the fable, state the facts right before our eyes, and therefore hold people accountable.

I hope but do not expect that Obama’s administration will go after the Bush criminals and finally bring them to justice.

I just hope that America wakes up to what a danger the theocrats are to our country. It was Islamic theocracy that caused the attacks on 9/11, and it was Christian theocracy that supported Bush these 8 years. We should be distinguishing ourselves from the terrorists, not pushing our own version of their tyranny. Religion has no place in government. Period.

Who in his right mind,think that because there were no more 9/11 we were kept safe by the doing of GW? 9/11 happened under his watch!Cargos in ports are still not properly inspected,all kind of dangerous devices still find their way in airplanes,The borders are still porous,distrust of America abroad an alltime high,…
Don’t get me wrong,acts of terrorism are always possible(homegrown and foreign,Pearl-Harbor,Oklahoma city, 9/11…)but let’s not fall in the traps of the fear mongers, who use fear to manipulate the world.
Some people have profited so much lately during those wars(halliburton and alike…)That i wonder sometimes about who did 9/11. After all, if i was kept in a secret prison and tortured for years, i too will confess to anything!

I am a retired UN Staff Member (22 years with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation)who returned to the US as a retiree in 2005. When President Bush, in his press conference today, said that the US Moral leadership role had not been damaged he was wrong. I spent the last 4 years of my service apologizing for the mistakes of what was considered by all as an errant American regime.

“U-S-A U-S-A U-S-A OO OO OO”

This is the crowd chant at ground zero. A bit of a cave man type mentality, wouldn’t you say? What is this–a football game?!

I doubt anyone from the radio program reads these comments, unless an intern has some free time and happens to be curious. I’ve written to the host and asked some serious questions and got no response. So I suppose there’s not much point in voicing my opinion here, aside from venting some frustrations in this little universe of radio show commentary.

First, I want to state that I unequivocably believe the Bush presidency to be a tragedy of heroic proportions. The extent of the damage, deceit, and deliterious effects on our democracy cannot be overstated. I think only our 21st c. atomized attention spans and our modern inability to grieve (because the shear volume of suffering we can be aware of in these times is simply too staggering to contain, for most of us) have caused us to look past the dereliction and negligence, hoping only that it will end soon. I feel this myself, but I can’t seem to look past the facts of this destructive and delusional administration to either forget or forgive.

I contend that the offenses and transgressions of the Bush presidency need to be exhumed and examined in glaring detail, not because of principle, or to limit future presidents from hubris and over-reaching, but for the same reason you challenge the guy who’s trying to coerce or intimidate you, because you feel personally violated and can’t stand watching them get away with it. Because of pride, self-respect and dignity.

Are we not men? And women? We’ve been used, abused and disregarded by these bullies and narcicists. We allow them to get out of town with their loot at our own peril. E-mails, phone calls, demonstrations, and every form of civic engagement needs to happen for justice to be served or we’re all just silent victims. And the bottom line isn’t just self-respect and dignity after all, is it? It’s the fabric and life’s blood of our great democracy. It’s national well being, it’s the foundation of the republic. Let’s stay busy, informed active and determined to reach the goal of justice being served to the Bush regime. The system is broken for things to have gotten bad. One more terrorist attack and Patriot Act II could be initiated. Just look at who Obama has at his back in the security side of the house – old guard cold warriors and hawks. It’d be martial law even with Mr. Constitutional lawyer President.

And oh yeah, Tom Ashbrook. This presidency is at least as tragic as 9/11. Why don’t you spend a couple of weeks on it and quit running off to the next distraction like you usually do!

I doubt anyone from the radio program reads these comments, unless an intern has some free time and happens to be curious. I’ve written to the host and asked some serious questions and got no response. So I suppose there’s not much point in voicing my opinion here, aside from venting some frustrations in this little universe of radio show commentary.

First, I want to state that I unequivocably believe the Bush presidency to be a tragedy of heroic proportions. The extent of the damage, deceit, and deliterious effects on our democracy cannot be overstated. I think only our 21st c. atomized attention spans and our modern inability to grieve (because the shear volume of suffering we can be aware of in these times is simply too staggering to contain, for most of us) have caused us to look past the dereliction and negligence, hoping only that it will end soon. I feel this myself, but I can’t seem to look past the facts of this destructive and delusional administration to either forget or forgive.

I contend that the offenses and transgressions of the Bush presidency need to be exhumed and examined in glaring detail, not because of principle, or to limit future presidents from hubris and over-reaching, but for the same reason you challenge the guy who’s trying to coerce or intimidate you, because you feel personally violated and can’t stand watching them get away with it. Because of pride, self-respect and dignity.

Are we not men? And women? We’ve been used, abused and disregarded by these bullies and narcicists. We allow them to get out of town with their loot at our own peril. E-mails, phone calls, demonstrations, and every form of civic engagement needs to happen for justice to be served or we’re all just silent victims. And the bottom line isn’t just self-respect and dignity after all, is it? It’s the fabric and life’s blood of our great democracy. It’s national well being, it’s the foundation of the republic. Let’s stay busy, informed active and determined to reach the goal of justice being served to the Bush regime. The system is broken for things to have gotten bad. One more terrorist attack and Patriot Act II could be initiated. Just look at who Obama has at his back in the security side of the house – old guard cold warriors and hawks. It’d be martial law even with Mr. Constitutional lawyer President.

And oh yeah, Tom Ashbrook. This presidency is at least as tragic as 9/11. Why don’t you spend a couple of weeks on it and quit running off to the next distraction like you usually do!

I can’t wait to see the Bush presidency end, but I have never had a good answer to Bush supporters in my family who say that we have never had another attack on our country so Bush has done the right thing. Help!

I’m no cheerleader for Bush, but there was only one perspective on this show. You might have just had the Daily KOS host the show. Sad.

It has been eight…yes, 8…interminably long years. A good fraction of any of our lives.

So much incompetence, pain, suffering.
Stealing two elections…(Ohio was certainly manipulated!)
The subversion of our constitution.
The overturning of our justice system.
A massive attack…ON THEIR WATCH.
The destruction of our economy.
Natural disasters bungled.
Two wars. No end in sight.
Our reputation as a generous, fair nation that follows international law…in shambles.

The list is endless and it is utterly depressing. What’s the worst thing? How do you put the list in order?

The most important thing to me is that we were attacked ON THEIR WATCH.

How insane is the media to keep repeating the Bush+ mantra that they have kept us safe. Every time I hear that, I shutter. The ashes fell in my Brooklyn garden. This criminal organization masquerading as a political administration was responsible for ignoring dire warnings.

We were attacked ON THEIR WATCH. The Bush-Cheney-Rice-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz-Pearle et al WATCH.
Maybe some media people have to write it on a chalkboard 500 times so it sinks in.

Anyone interested in perusing a comprehensive litany of the ills of this administration should log onto the following website:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/news/entry/1078/

The nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity lists “more than 125 systematic failures across the breadth of the federal government” under Bush’s tenure, cross-indexed by agency, individual, and financial impact. Whether it concerns the fateful mistakes made by L. Paul Bremer III to disband the Iraqi military and outlaw the Ba’ath party, which overnight needlessly created an entire class of disgruntled insurgents; or the many egregious errors made in regard to Hurricane Katrina; the politicization of the Justice Department; the way torture became the law of the land (with shadowy figures like David Addington providing justification by standing the normal meanings of words on their head); or the unprecedented evisceration of the will of Congress by infamous “signing statements,” the Bush “legacy” is one of monumental failure and malice. Those readers inclined to give Bush a pass or who fervently believe that he has kept us safe from another attack and is otherwise an effective president should read what the Center has to say. So should people like Charles Fried, the conservative legal scholar who wrote a piece in last weekend’s New York Times and who was on “Talk of the Nation” today, arguing against prosecution of Bush and his cronies. The malfeasance and outright lawbreaking revealed by the Center is utterly contemptible and would surely have provided the text of several articles of impeachment, had the Congress and the public the will to restore some semblance of integrity to our broken system of government.

Bush’s frequent refrain that an impersonal “history” will vindicate him provides a convenient way for him to avoid taking any responsibility for his many failures. We do not need to wait for some amorphous future history. A slew of investigative reporting, as evidenced by the work of the Center and numerous books over the past eight years, provides ample evidence for justifiably condemning this presidency as the worst in our nation’s history, and for demanding that Bush et al. be held accountable now, not decades from now, when our great-grandchildren will still be dealing with the repercussions.

I think you have to ask yourselves why, if this president was as bad as you think, 1) did he get re-elected and 2) did the candidate representing his party in the next election get 46% of the popular vote even during the greatest economic crisis since the Depression. Perhaps you are not as in-tune with America as you would like to believe. I doubt the elite among you will think so.

History does have a way of dulling strong opinions against a president. Nixon regained much of his elder statesman stature just before his death and was portrayed as a rather sympathetic, though dark, character in the recent Frost-Nixon movie. Ford’s reputation also seemed to rise as time went on. Carter’s good works have almost led the nation to forget the disaster of his single-term presidency. Reagan is worshipped by Republicans as all the candidates last year sought to be seen as his re-incarnation. Clinton is still mostly a womanizer joke line for Leno, and his fallout with African Americans this last election cycle hurt; but he has plenty of time turn things around. All presidents seem to benefit from the media putting their targets on the new guy in the chair.

I recall going to see George W. Bush’s inaugauration speech at the Texas Capitol in 1998. I had left Texas for several years and came back in 97 and had heard some positive things about our governor. Being a moderate I was hopeful but at some point in a speech about making sure to include everyone in the prosperity of the state I could tell he could not put his ideas together. I was extremely disappointed. I figured he was not a big thinker. I am thankful I did not vote for him in either presidential elections. During governor he was fortunate to have a strong economy and unfortunately did not have to do much heavy lifting. That is why he appeared to be such a bipartisan figure but when everyone is having a great time it is easier being a politician (see S. Palin-Alaska 2008).

In response to Patricia Sainz… “…but I have never had a good answer to Bush supporters in my family who say that we have never had another attack on our country…”.

It’s a basic flaw in logic for them to make an assertion like this without providing supporting evidence. For example, specifics regarding a foiled attack based on info garnered from (for example) illegal wire-tapping. Specifics, not “we can’t say because we’ll compromise our methods”. Taking an argument like that on faith is what led us into the war in the first place. Without evidence, one could make a similar claim that there were no attacks because of things Paris Hilton said about the issue. Means nothing. We as a people have to be more intellectually curious and demand more justification than making a simple observation that there were no attacks.

Also, keep in mind that our enemies have killed and mamed far more Americans since 9-11 because of Bush’s policies, most of these fallen having been targetted in Iraq where Bush put them unnecessarily. In fact he and many in his administration likened the war in Iraq as the battle removed to foreign soil.

On the general topic…

We reaped what we sowed. IOW, we elected AND re-elected this guy. The truth is, he was in WAY over his head. At best, he might have made a fair mayor of some small city in rural Texas somewhere. Others ran Texas when he was govenor (as Rove promised him they would) and then again when he was president (a.k.a “Cheney”). No, we are ultimately to blame for this disaster because we choose our leaders more for their position on issues like school prayer than for their judgement, temperence and competence. We pick our leaders more for how much like us they are, how “likeable” they are, as opposed to how well they can do the job. Would you pick a surgeon using criteria like that?

I think you have to ask yourselves why, if this president was as bad as you think, 1) did he get re-elected and 2) did the candidate representing his party in the next election get 46% of the popular vote even during the greatest economic crisis since the Depression. Perhaps you are not as in-tune with America as you would like to believe. I doubt the elite among you will think so.

This comment from Jack sums it up on one level.
It is sad, so very sad that we as a nation have come to this. Our nation is a very conservative country and this is reflected in this past election. It is a shame that people still think that buy pulling up their boot straps that it will all be alright. It wont, and the mean spirited streak that flows through the Republican party will always be there. I don’t like the Democrat’s much either, but this mean it’s all about me and government should get off my back attitude has proven time and time again to be the worse for our country as a whole. The question is what kind of community do we want to live in?

It’s hard to know what you mean.
What is conservative? I’ve heard many times that our country is broadly described as center right from a political philosophy standpoint.
Look at the comments above and tell me where the mean-spirited folk are in terms of party affiliation.

I have a well reasoned distrust of government. In general and based on my direct experience, I find government functionaries to be arrogant, stubborn, non-creative, unhappy, and yet they carry themselves with an air of entitlement. These people work for you and me, but you wouldn’t know it. Frankly, I live life trying to avoid any non-essential interaction with the government. Why should I think differently of an elected official than the crabby lady at the DMV?

I recognize the DMV has to exist, but I’m not sure I want them to be my health care provider.

I think President Bush was greatly influenced by JFK. He was part of that 1960’s generation and wanted to improve mankind like JFK suggested. Bush was much more successful than JFK. He set free 25 million people from Iraq and Afgahanstan, greatly improved aid to Africa, tried to increase home ownership but that was a disaster due to the liberal democrates like B. Frank and C. Dodd. Bush did not leave a winless war like JFK did with Vietnam nor did he abuse drugs or cheat on his wife like JFK.

I have to admit being amused at most of the comments. Hypocrites have united in this forum. Many errors were made in this Presidency. First didn’t nearly the entire world leadership agree with the information that we based our invasion of Iraq? Were there lies or just incorrect intelligence? Who gutted the information gathering capacity of this nation? That’s right Pres. Clinton. We’re still paying a price for that. Anyone can research this if they had any unpartisn inclination.

Before you all go off consider this-I am not a Republican or even a strong right winger, just an American who looks at both sides before rendering an opinion. However I didn’t drink the Kool Aid during the CLinton years. Talk about someone who should have been impeached, successfully that is. There is no dispute that he lied under oath let alone to all of the people in America. He didnt’ balance the budget the Republican COngress did that and had to force Clinton to sign it.

I do believe that abortion is wrong but I don’t believe we should legislate this question. Education is the answer to many if not all of our social and economic ills.

I also believe in a safety net to catch Americans that come on hard times. I was a recipient a couple of years ago and felt no guilt about receiving assistance the government. I paid for that.

I believe Dems and Reps are both patriotic, their methods and beliefs differ and not that differently in some cases.

The economic crisis we’re in simply wasn’t created by either party but was contributed to by both parties.

Many things that occurred during Bush’s Presidency were unprecedented and therefore unforseeable. That means everyone, including CLinton, Herbert Bush, Reagan and Carter get a pass, at least to a degree.

Lastly, an earlier comment that Bush deserves no credit for there being no further attacks on US soil because there is no proof that there would have been another attack is not just ridiculous but assinine.

All partisans on both sides need to support this president and pray, that’s right pray that he succeeds. His quick retreat to the middle will give him more of a chance.

Good riddance. I don’t even want to use an exclamation point. Just like that. Perhaps he goes on a lecture tour to the Anbar Province or Kandahar to tout the merits of Jeffersonian democracy. We’ve sent enough money down there for them to be able to pay his speaking fees. And the violence there has been greatly reduced so it is safe (except for an occasional shoe flying by). It will be like another Marshall plan. I’d like to see that. I’d like to see the liberated peoples of Iraq and Afganistan greeting him as a liberator.

After this term of office, it would be fitting for Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney and their spouses as well as their key advisors and cabinet all serve for the rest of their lives giving personal aid to the victims of their belligerant policies. The victims being the familes and the injured, both civilian and military who were killed or wounded by unnecessary and unjust military action created by the Bush regime.

The only way that evil will triumph in this world is for good people to stand by and do nothing. When a murderous dictator, who has defied and laughed in the face of the UN resolutions and has committed genocide on innocent people, scattered the desert with mass graves of men,women and children, dealt out threats, what does a good man do? Sit on his butt and do nothing,like the world is doing in Darfur? If the Irag war is a failure, at least we and some other nations stopped the monster from killing more innocent people. At least the 4,000 dead Americans had a noble reason to have shed their blood for,instead of being remembered as having died for nothing. Maybe we should just get out of involving ourselves with the world’s problems and solve our own. Who cares if innocent people are slaughter, that is not a good enough reason to go to war. These evil people know that the world as a whole is more bark than bite.

Should have taken out Hussein when he was committing his acts of genocide. 20 years afterwards is a little too late to put 4,000 Americans on the line. Meanwhile, I read today in the news Bin Laden is calling for another jihad. That was Bush’s job. He is a failure. David is correct when he uses “at least” a few times in his post. As in “Bush is a failure, but at least…” Nothing more.

It’s interesting how many strict originalists there appear to be here.

Another view is that the Constitution is a living document subject to interpretation and one that changes with the times. Bush would appear to have ample defense as a result.

Congress has found no violation of the Constitution. In addition, Congressional leadership would have difficulty suggesting that they didn’t know what was going on when they were being briefed. Where is the criminal intent you allege? The Justice Department has already said that they signed off on many of the legal issues under consideration.

Amazing how we are lead to believe what is truth and what is false. The left wing liberals have done a great job in their quest to gain control of the hill. America has eaten up everything that they have fed them. Facts are hidden and sometimes suppressed in order to get your man elected. The thousands and thousands of seized documents of Sadaam’s regime are finally being translated and made public. They are beginning to reveal some interesting facts. These facts have been revealed in a book by Georges Humuz Sada, Saddam’s Secrets. I am sure the left wing liberals will have alot to say about the info. revealed therein. But! who cares now, Bush is the monster and Obama by Lewis Farrakhan’s revelation is the messiah.

I too am glad to see Bush go. But I think we make a mistake by saying things like: his philosophy was the ends justifies the means, all decisions were political and he was the worst president since Caligula (my favorite, by the way).

From NPR listeners, he gets too much blame for Katrina, not enough credit for preventing terrorist attacks and way too many uninformed theories on his motivation.

The danger from this is we can lose sight of the target as we demonize the other side. Louisiana and New Orleans governments are at least as much to blame as the federal government, yet, we never hear about them anymore (and the mayor is still there).

One sided comments from the left bug me at least as much as someone like Shawn Hannity.

Facts may be hidden, as they frequently are, but Bush’s screw ups and incompetence are there for everyone to see. The only reason Republican scoundrel lost is themselves. They were like mobsters in that movie, Casino. They got control over this huge pot of people’s money all to themselves and they managed to f…k it up. Think about the possibilities: no-bid contracts, earmarks, two wars and now this crisis. Any party would salivate at the opportunity to throw money around and skim of the top. I guess they will have to watch other people do it for a while.

Bush’s legacy will haunt the United States for decades–the worst eight years in American history due to gross incompetence, lack of vision, and arrogance. The key point mentioned on the show is that Bush and his cronies are “dismissive.” He dismissed so many rational voices, voices that might have guided this country above the moral morass Bush and his cronies wallow in. The list of W.’s failures is long and outrageous. He and others in his cabal should face charges of human rights violations. He should face them sooner than later. And he should face them because Americans need to find closure to his unaccountability for undermining Constitutional law and other criminal behavior.

The statement that the Republicans “received 46% of the popular vote even during the greatest economic crisis since the Depression” could also be interpreted in a different light. These people could be wrong.

The Republicans and the right wing ideology that they embrace, has failed this country. The Bush years are proof that these people are not fit to run a post office let alone the US government.

All the talk on Bush preventing another terrorist attack is absurd, there is no proof that Bush has done anything in this regard.

What about the 4000 + military personnel who have lost their lives? What of the tens of thousands of returning vets who have huge medical problems?

What about the 100,000 or more Iraq’s who have lost their lives?

It’s very interesting how supporters of Bush point to this as his legacy of what is a failed presidency.

Glad to see the back of this arrogant SOB.

Ironically, this broadcast simply goes to prove your original hypothesis: there has not been enough time elapsed to make any statement about Bush that has historical significance. You glossed past proof that Bush knew well ahead of Iraq that there were no weapons of mass destruction, and the memo which proves that the administration fully intended to go to war before the UN negotiations. How they suppressed evidence and planted false evidence. Their refusal to listen to advice from senior military and government experts (or anyone else for that matter). This presidency was never valid to begin with, and never was honest with Americans or the world. As (or If) more information comes to light, we will see that this administration will be remembered as possibly the worst, most incompetent, and most deceptive in all of American history. And YES, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld should all be tried at the Hague for war crimes.

Finally listened to this program, and, man, what a disappointment. I didn’t learn a thing, or see anything in any sort of new perspective. (Diane Rehm’s show on this topic was FAR superior.) And, yeesh, would it have killed the producers to bring on someone to have a perspective that maybe Bush wasn’t pure evil? You don’t learn anything in an echo chamber.

I’m sorry, but did one of the guests say that the Bush administration will prove to be the worst 8 years in American history?!! How did no one challenge that?! The Civil War? The Great Depression?!

But I agree with the first poster–thanks for leaving Jack Beatty off of this program. The man is entitled to his opinion, of course, but I really can do without hearing him read off some pre-prepared statement where he tries to say for the 50,000th time using thirty-dollar words and a quote from an ancient Greek historian that “Bush was bad.”